BLM Allegedly Attempts to Build False Emergency to Avoid Court and Eradicate Wild Horse Herd
Washington D.C., (WHFF) – On June 22nd, 2012 Wild Horse Advocacy groups filed an “Emergency Motion for Stay of Threatened Emergency Gather” against Director of the Department of the Interior (DoI) Ken Salazar and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in an attempt to “head off” what is believed to be an artificial emergency generated by the BLM in an effort to eradicate Colorado’s West Douglas Wild Horse Herd and by-pass on-going litigation to prevent the agency from doing same.

Plaintiffs Colorado Wild Horse & Burro Coalition, Front Range Equine Rescue, Habitat for Horses, Cloud Foundation, Don and Toni Moore, supported by Wild Horse Freedom Federation, have spent years locked in a legal battle to prevent the BLM from furthering their long standing goal of removing the entire North West Colorado wild horse herd from their native public land. The organizations collectively allege that they have credible evidence to dispute the BLM’s assertion that a drought emergency exists in the area and the horses must be removed for their own safety.

Last week the BLM issued two separate warnings to the court that the horses were in distress but the Wild Horse advocacy groups decry these claims after an intensive on-site investigation and survey of the area in question.

In his declaration to the court, local resident and plaintiff Dr. Don Moore states,

“…in areas where the horses are found there is plenty of fresh water flowing. Some of it flows underground but comes up aboveground in “seeps,” which are areas where water bubbles up from freshwater springs beneath the ground and which wild horses regularly find, access, and drink from. We saw many seeps in the past week with a length and a depth sufficient to support the horses. There is, based on my knowledge and experience of this area and these horses, ample fresh water even though an untrained eye might not appreciate the available water in the area.

He further states:
“I observed fresh feces from the wild horses and determined that the horses were
not dehydrated, based on the size and consistency of the samples observed. Visually the horses
exhibited no signs of dehydration, which could include thin body condition or emaciation.”

Lauryn Wachs, of the Cloud Foundation, also traveled to the area where the BLM claims there is no water for the horses and said,

“In the past week in the West Douglas Herd Area I observed horses accessing natural water from “seeps” where fresh water was flowing. It was also clear there was ample water for the horses as I observed four horses who were wet, obviously from rolling in mud, a sure sign of available water.”

R.T. Fitch, volunteer president of WHFF one of the funding organizations added,

“This is an old Mustanger trick used by the BLM to circumvent the courts and accomplish what they have always wanted to do, wipe out this entire herd.” Fitch continued, “Once again it appears that the BLM is using backroom tactics in an effort to serve their special cattle grazing interests who have joined them in this fight. Private cattle stay, public wild horses go; it’s nothing short of insanity.”

The battle over the West Douglas herd is nearly two decades old, and only through the efforts of concerned citizens and organizations have the horses been saved from the BLM’s desire to remove them all from their homelands. In 2009, concerned citizens and organizations won the first case in the United States against BLM’s practices of eliminating wild horse herds when Judge Collyer set aside BLM’s 2008 roundup plans. In 2010 advocates again sued the BLM and the BLM withdrew its plans to decimate the herd. Likewise, in 2011 the BLM was held at bay by the advocacy groups.

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Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) is a registered, Texas non-profit corporation with 501c3 status. WHFF puts people between America’s wild equids and extinction through targeted litigation against governmental agencies whose documented agendas include the eradication of wild horse and burros from public, federal and state lands. WHFF is funded exclusively through the generosity of the American public.

There aren’t a lot of wild horses left in Colorado , but a small herd of mustangs fifty miles north of Grand Junction just got a reprieve. Besieged by legal challenges of its plan to relocate “excess” horses from public lands to private holding facilities and pastures, the Bureau of Land Management has abruptly withdrawn its latest proposal to remove the West Douglas herd — an isolated but hearty group of a hundred horses near Rangely that’s been targeted for decades.

The range does NOT get into this bad shape overnight and the BLM’s only answer has been to remove horses. This is a prime example of BLM’s politically driven (not scientifically based) MIS-management of YOUR public lands.

Heavily grazed land is not evidence that Wild Horses are the cause – and the photo captions (see BLM environmental assessment) even admit that the area shown is annually and HEAVILY grazed by livestock. To take it a step further, it shows (PURPOSELY?) that the livestock grazed the forage far below health and the Wild Horses, which rely on this area for winter grazing were left with a devastated range to try to survive on. The photos that were supplied only prove the fact that this portion of the range was highly over grazed by livestock last year and because of that it had a difficult time rejuvenating for the winter usage of the wild horses. In other words these photos show bad range management of livestock and absolutely no proof that Wild Horses over grazed this area.

ONLY 4.5% – 7.5% percent of usage [AUMS] are designated for Wild Horses verses 92.5% – 95.5% range usage for livestock on the Jackson HMA. IMO this HMA range land over-grazing by livestock and starvation of the wild horses was purposely planned by “the agency” to rid the HMA of the legally designated wild horses.

The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA) is an Act of Congress signed into law. “It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death.”

The roundup started June 8, and three weeks in, they have gathered more than 400 horses.

BLM Spokesperson Jolynn Worley says they could be done in this area as early as tomorrow.

According to the BLM website, there have been six horse deaths since the beginning of this roundup, but they are listed under “non-gather-related.” Worley says those horses were euthanized.

“These are animals that have chronic preexisting conditions not related to the gather,” Worley says.

Shortly after News 4 spoke with Worley, she said three horses had been found dead at the Palomino Valley Complex this morning. One mare had died from a broken neck, and two foals had died from “poor body conditions.”

The horses were brought to Palomino Valley from the roundup and will be considered “non-gather related” because they were found at the complex, not onsite.

The roundup has been controversial from the start because it’s taking place during foaling season, when mares are pregnant and new colts are born. The season goes through July 1, but BLM says drought has caused an emergency situation in the southern portion of the Jackson Mountains herd management area.

BLM says they are maintaining the roundup to be as safe as possible.

Once BLM finishes the roundup in the southern portion of the Jackson Mountains area, they will move to the northern portion. A judge recently ruled they cannot begin that roundup until July 1 (after foaling season) because it’s not an emergency area.

This BLM roundup is going on right now, in Nevada. It is peak foaling season and BLM hired federal contractors are running these Horses with a helicopter. This is what happens to the Foals. We’ll never know how many Foals can’t keep up and are just left out there (to view pictures follow the link):http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/2012/06/bureau-of-land-mismanagement-does-it.html
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
THE BUREAU OF LAND MISMANAGEMENT DOES IT AGAIN, AND THEY ARE ROUNDING UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS — THE WILD HORSES, OF COURSE — AND CHASING THEM WITH HELICOPTERS IN THE HEIGHT OF FOALING SEASON. How did it come to this?

Below are the fragile, soft feet of a one-day-old mustang foal born in captivity. Look how thin the hoof wall is, barely twice the thickness of my thumbnail.

BELOW: And the sole of this foot (the inner, flat part of the hoof), which is almost rock-hard in adult horses to withstand covering all kinds of terrain, in this youngster’s foot is rubbery and pliable, similar to a large pencil eraser, and it gets worn down in the rough terrain in a like manner.

BELOW: The same one-day-old foal’s soft hind feet, with their paper-like hoof walls and rubbery soft sole. His Maker equipped him well, but not to withstand running from a helicopter over miles of rocky ground in the first six weeks of his life.

HOW DID IT COME TO THIS, where BLM is violating its own protocols to remove many horses before their scheduled roundup several weeks away, risking the lives of the very young? — who, by the way, are not being seen in the trap, I’m told. So where are they?
BLM FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS has not reduced livestock grazing in this Jackson Mountain HMA as good range stewardship called for. Thus, they have denuded the range; and let’s please not forget that horses are outnumbered by cows and sheep in this area, which is one of the few remaining legal areas designated for the wild horses and burros.
Additionally, there are serious drought conditions BLM has been monitoring in this area, and BLM began hauling water weeks ago.
But once again, it’s the wild horses and burros, who are by law supposed to be considered an integral (“essential, central, core”) part of the natural system of the public lands, are instead being driven off their homes in this illegal way because of BLM’s own mismanagement. And BLM boasts that the livestock permittees have voluntarily reduced their grazing. That’s great for the permittees, but it is BLM’s responsibility to manage the grazing, not rely on the permittees’ goodwill, which we, by the way, very much appreciate.
I say “illegal” for two reasons: 1) BLM’s own rules prohibit roundups during foaling season; 2) Per the 1971 Act, the HMA should be managed principally, not necessarilyl exclusively, for its resident wild horses and burros.
What galls the worst is many of us agree that for the horses’ safety and survival, many do need to be moved, and we have tried to work with BLM to obtain protections for the horses in the process. A number of wild horse advocates have been in discussions with BLM head personnel in Winnemucca to discuss how to do it safely, myself included.
We urged that water trapping be used, or bait trapping. That was refused.
So we entered discussions to try to obtain some safety for the horses now facing a helicopter roundup in the peak of foaling season.
BLM initially made the right noises about engaging more “humane” protocols — for example “monitoring” for “extreme temperatures,” etc. However, once again they have steadfastly refused to commit to actual conditions, e.g., stop flying when the temperature hits 85 F. It is obscene, people, and I don’t use that word casually.
On and on it goes. Advocate Laura Leigh, who has been observing the roundup, lost hope in BLM as she saw foals being badly compromised and the helicopter continuing to fly despite soaring temperatures, and has filed suit to try and stop this. When Laura says to me, “Today I saw the worst run at the trap I’ve ever seen,” I know things have got to be really serious.